Darkman - Yabba Dabba Doo - (1994)

Wildcard Records, CARDD6 855781-2

Here's an oldie but goodie!

Wildcard were another label on a roll in the early nineties. They'd signed China Black after their massive indie success on the Reggae charts with the still brilliant Searching, and helped propel it into the pop charts. They had Nu Colours, another up and coming urban act, and then they signed Darkman, who would go on to score the biggest UK Hiphop chart position to date with the infectious Yabba Dabba Doo.

I remember this track absolutely dominating airplay in the UK in the summer of '94. It was massive both on radio and in the clubs. it would blow up again the following year as well, when it was remixed and rereleased (I'll post the re-release at a later date for sake of completion). However, the finest version of it for me was always the Party Like That Mix, available on both releases.

The Ghetto Lab mix is interesting for the more gangsta take on the lyrics, the 7" Mix is thoroughly decent, as is the bonus track What's not Yours, but, as stated above, it's the anthemic Party Like That Mix all the way for this girl.

Some trivia - Yabba Dabba Doo was produced by Darkman AND a guy called Micky P (I'm pretty sure he was the Micky P who used to be on KISS FM back in the day, when it was actually good) - no relation to our bossman, I take it? Also, and I never realised this back in the day, but there was additional production by the Young Disciples' very own Femi Fem. Cool, huh?

- Kymba :)

• Yabba Dabba Doo (7" Mix)
• Yabba Dabba Doo (Party Like That Mix)
• What's Not Yours (Power Lab Censored Mix)
• Yabba Dabba Doo (Ghetto Lab Mix)

The Download Link is here: Download
Filename: Yabba Dabba Doo.zip File size: 22 MB